Menokin Descendant Collective Spotlight: Wanda Henderson

Wanda Henderson (2nd from left) and family members

Our Menokin Descendant Collective Spotlight for March is Wanda Gordon Henderson!

Wanda is the second great-granddaughter of Stafford Gordon, Jr. and the third great-granddaughter of Amanda Beverly and Stafford Gordon. She is the oldest child of Robert Gordon and Christine Nelson Gordon.

Wanda is a graduate of Temple University and Liberty University. She is a life-long educator and learner. She currently serves as a principal for the Department of Corrections, where she oversees Adult Education/GED programs, career and technical education programs, and a college program for inmates.

She is married to Roger Henderson, and they have had five children (Jennifer, Meno, AJ, and Aiyanna---Roger, Jr. has gone home to Heaven) and two grandchildren (Nina and Zidane). She loves spending time with family and friends, enjoying concerts, movies, good books, a rousing game of spades, and dancing. She often teaches dance fitness at local gyms.

Wanda never knew she lived so close to where her ancestors had been enslaved. She shares, “It has blessed me immensely to know where I "come from.” I wish my dad and youngest son had lived long enough to have been a part of the first descendant's event. I felt when I first drove onto the property that I was home. That this place was "mine.’”

Wanda is seen here second from left with family members, who are also descendants of the enslaved persons at Menokin.

Read the entire Menokin Descendant Collective Spotlight Series via this link